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   Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 07:28:29 JST Anil Dash

   The number one thing I've been hearing from people in tech lately is, basically, "How the hell am I supposed to work in this industry anymore?" Though most folks are kind of afraid to say it out loud. So I wrote about how to think about it: https://www.anildash.com/2026/01/05/a-tech-career-in-2026/

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 07:40:31 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Ethan Marcotte

     @beep very welcome! You're always one of my imaginary audience readers in my head when I'm writing, so thank you for the help before I publish. :)

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     Ethan Marcotte (beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 07:40:33 JST Ethan Marcotte

     in reply to

     @anildash Anil, I’ve already read this twice; it’s just tremendous. Thank you for writing it.

     Appreciate you.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 07:40:56 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Raymond Camden

     @raymondcamden good catch, thanks! will fix.

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     Raymond Camden (raymondcamden@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 07:40:57 JST Raymond Camden

     in reply to

     @anildash typo i think (or unparsed Markdown)

     Many of the biggest companies have abandoned the basic principle of making technology that actually_ works._

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 08:56:44 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Jon

     @jdp23 I'm glad it's useful.

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     Jon (jdp23@neuromatch.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 08:56:45 JST Jon

     in reply to

     @anildash Excellent post! There are quite a few people I'll be sending this to

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 08:58:16 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • eswillwalker

     @ELS I'm happy to hear it's been helpful!

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     eswillwalker (els@sfba.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 08:58:17 JST eswillwalker

     in reply to

     @anildash I’m still finding this post to be more intelligible and relevant to me, a non-coder who needs to do a bit of coding on occasion. https://www.anildash.com/2025/12/02/vibe-coding-empowering-and-imprisoning/

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:01:05 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Ted

     @tschundler I explicitly call for people to take collective action in the section on understanding power.

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     Ted (tschundler@leds.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:01:06 JST Ted

     in reply to

     @anildash
     > All it takes is remembering that the power in tech truly rests with all the people who actually make things

     That power becomes diluted when individual workers are more replaceable. A rough job market enables the current management behavior.

     Simply having real innovation isn't enough if the company won't listen to it. And they're happy not to, and then rush to pivot when it's too late.

     This reenforces more than ever that we need unions. I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:02:29 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Nigel Wadsworth 🇦🇺

     @nygl you're very welcome.

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     Nigel Wadsworth 🇦🇺 (nygl@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:02:30 JST Nigel Wadsworth 🇦🇺

     in reply to

     @anildash Thank you.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:07:03 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Ethan Marcotte
     • Laura

     @laescude @beep well, I mean... the post does explicitly advocate for collective action under the heading of understanding power. Soooo

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     Laura (laescude@mastodon.cr)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:07:05 JST Laura

     in reply to

     • Ethan Marcotte

     @beep @anildash Reading just the headline, I thought -Ethan would answer UNIONIZE

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:09:48 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • christa

     @christa I fully agree that the changes will not come soon enough for everyone, and that some places won't change but will instead push out everyone of good conscience. I don't mean to diminish that reality, at all.

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     christa (christa@friend.camp)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 09:09:49 JST christa

     in reply to

     @anildash it's timely. I was just talking about this yesterday at lunch with some old coworkers, all of whom are intending to leave the industry (some faster than others). I'm not sure I'm as optimistic as you are about the possibility of change (focusing mainly on the "this too shall pass"), but I appreciate the acknowledgement of how many are feeling (felt it physically) and some concrete advice about how to move through it

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 10:58:05 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • 🍂☃️ Season’s Change ❄️👻

     @SeasonsChange I'm so glad to hear it!

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     🍂☃️ Season’s Change ❄️👻 (seasonschange@retro.pizza)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 10:58:07 JST 🍂☃️ Season’s Change ❄️👻

     in reply to

     @anildash This was an excellent read. I have had similar concerns in private. The article gives me some encouragement!

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 11:01:01 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • funnymonkey

     @funnymonkey Very welcome. I think *so many* of us have had these conversations, and I just want to make sure we're not only having them behind closed doors.

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     funnymonkey (funnymonkey@freeradical.zone)'s status on Tuesday, 06-Jan-2026 11:01:02 JST funnymonkey

     in reply to

     @anildash
     I can't count the number of variations I've had on this conversation.

     Thanks for putting this out there.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 03:37:26 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Glyph

     @glyph thanks. Yeah, it was a reasoned choice. I forget that sometimes people don't know the vagaries of navigating having a larger audience, especially one that includes a not-insignificant number of enterprise or big-business readers. I even forget, until people will tell me that the email bounced because I used too many curse words or the like. 🤣

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     Glyph (glyph@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 03:37:27 JST Glyph

     in reply to

     @anildash great piece. my first thought was "why didn't he say 'unionize'?" but seeing some of your reasoning in the replies here and thinking about the median target reader, I think you very delicately threaded a needle here.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 13:11:18 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Ben Ramsey

     @ramsey @sashag You're very welcome, and I truly understand both the feeling and the contemplation. I've had the same conversation with a lot of folks. That's why I wanted to write this, because I think everyone knows the emperor is naked but maybe folks are just waiting for someone to say it.

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     Ben Ramsey (ramsey@phpc.social)'s status on Thursday, 08-Jan-2026 13:11:19 JST Ben Ramsey

     in reply to

     @anildash @sashag Thank you for writing this. I’ve been spiraling lately, and it’s been incredibly difficult to focus on my actual work because of these worries. Your post reminded me that I’m not the only one struggling with this.

     Several senior devs I’ve spoken to recently (including myself) have all contemplated leaving the industry entirely. My problem is I’m not sure what I’ll do to maintain the same standard of living.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Thursday, 15-Jan-2026 02:28:11 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • kel

     @kel someone is running the infrastructure we’re using right now. How do you advocate that this happens?

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     kel (kel@mastodon.online)'s status on Thursday, 15-Jan-2026 02:28:12 JST kel

     in reply to

     @anildash

     I agree with the opening analysis, but the rest just feels like clutching at straws 🤷

     There is no future in tech, maybe just accept it and find something else to do rather than trying to climb higher in the crumbling pile of bones?

     I mean it, leaving tech was one of the best things I ever did - I am about 5 years ahead of everyone else because lockdown and then brexit wiped me out and I never recovered.

     Good luck 👍